Apparatus for feeding bagasse to furnaces.



Np. 739,161.. I PATPNTBD SEPT. 15, 1903. J. FISHER. APPARATUS P011PEEDING BAGASSE ToV PURNAGPS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, 1902.

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Stimme/17 No. 739,161. PATENTED SEPT. 15, 190s. J. FISHER.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING BAGASSEvT-O PURNAGBS.

APPLIOATION Hman 11111.25. 1902.

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No., 739,161. PATENTED SEPT. 15, 1903.

\ J. FISHER.

APPARATUS PORv FEEDINTG BAG'ASSE TO PURNACES. APPLIATION FILED JULY 25,1902.

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No. 739,161. A

UNITED STATES Patented September 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES FISHER, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING BAGASSE TO FURNSACESI SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 739,161, dated September 15, 1903.

Application filed .Tuly 25,1902. Serial No. 116,984. (No model.) Y

T0 a/ZZ whom. it may aon/cerro:

Be it known that I, JAMES FISHER, a citizen of the United States,residing at NewOr.- leans, in the parish of Orleans and State ofLouisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus'for Feeding Bagasse to Furnaces; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for feeding bagasse,sawdust, or other fine fuel to furnaces. It is especially intended toprovide a suitable apparatus for distributing bagasse from one source toa number of furnaces.

The invention also relates to certain improvements on my patents Nos.564,918, granted July 28, 1896, and 591,752, granted October 12, 1897.

Referenceishadto the accompanying drawings, in which the same parts areindicated by the same letters throughout the several views. l

Figure 1 is a plan View showing the apparatus as arranged fordistributing the bagasse coming from a single chute to fourfurnaces,parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the device shownin Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross-section through one of the feedchutes, thefurnace being shown in elevation. Fig. 4 is a plan view of amodification, showing the apparatus arranged for feeding two furnacesonly; and-Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the device shown in Fig. 4.Fig. 6 repre` endless carrier C runs, provided with slats c,

which push the bagasse along the bottom of the trough. This carrier Oisdriven in any convenient way, as by means of the pulleyD and belt D'.Openings B0 are provided in the bottom of the trough B above the chutesF, which openings are wholly or partly closed by the gates E, which arecut away at an angle, as indicated at e. Suitable handles e may beprovided for adjusting the gates. will be seen that these gates eitherwholly or partially close the openings B0, and by moving the gates in orout the portion of the bagasse y that falls through the respectiveopenings is varied at will. Thus, for instance, if the first gate bepulled all the Way out all of the bagasse would go to the first furnaceor by closing all the gates but the last all of the bagasse would go tothe last fur- In practice it would be desirable to divide the bagasse upbetween the several furnaces in use, which is done by adjusting thegates, as indicated in Fig. 1 or in Fig. 4. Thus it will beseen that anyone or more furnaces can be cut off and the bagasse distributed to theother furnaces. This is important to accomplish, as it is desirable notto stop the mill from grinding; but at the same time the boilers andfurnaces must more or less frequently be cleaned out or repaired. Thebottom of the chute F is preferably hinged, as at f', and secured at f2to the bottom of the trough B, so that when it is desired thes'e bottomsmay be lowered and the bagasse may be allowed to drop to the ground orinto a wagon provided for the purpose. A

The bagasse is delivered from the chute F to the feed-box H, which iscontrolled by a door K, hinged, as at 7o, and having a. weighted arm loprojecting through the slot lo". (See Fig. 3.) The weight of the bagassewill press this door open, but it will automatically close when thebagasse has passed through, thus preventing theinflux of cold air intothe upper part of the furnace. The bottom of the feed-box is closed by adoor H', hinged, as at h', and locked, as at h2. This door may be swungdownward, as indicated in dotted lines, when it is desired to obtainaccess to .the feed-box for purposes of cleaning out or repairing. Theweights on the rod 7c' are adjustable back and forth, so thatv they [mayyield to dierent weights of bagasse pressing against the doors K. Itfollows, therefore, that by adjusting one of the openings Bo and theweight on the corresponding rod lo the IOO openings.

bagasse may be fed slower to some furnaces than to others, which isoften desirable.

M represents a toothed roller having teeth m, -which roller is driven ata high speed by means of pulleys M and throws the bagasse through theopening O into the furnace.

P represents a boiler; but I do not mean to limit the invention to anyparticular kind of furnace or any particular kind of boiler.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4 the carrier A from the mill runsparallel and above the trough B and dumps the bagasse into the saidtrough without the necessity of a chute A or of cutting away the saidchute at an angle, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 instead of having adjustable gatesont away at an angle the bottom of the trough is cnt away at an angle,as indicated at b', b2, and b3. In this case the bagasse will be fed tothree feedchutes; but the bottom of the trough could be cnt so as tofeed to one, two, or more. In this case, however, it would beimpracticable to adjust the feed or to cnt olf the feed from one or moreboilers or furnaces Without providing some means for closing the severalI therefore prefer to use the gates cut away at an angle. This cut-awayconstruction of the gates and of the openings I will for Convenience indrawing the claim call the anglegates and the angle-openings,respectively. Wind-guards W may be provided, as shown in Fig. 3, toprevent the wind from blowing away any of the bagasse as it falls intothe chute. Thus it will be seen that I provide an apparatus by means ofwhich the bagasse is uniformly distributed over lthe floor of the troughand is automatically delivered from that trough in regulated proportionsto a plurality of furnaces. By having these angled openings the bagasseis uniformly distributed in the various chutes, and thus is more evenlyfed into the furnace.

It will be obvious that various modifications in the herein-describedapparatus might be made which could be used without departing from thespirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

In an apparatus for feeding bagasse to furnaces,the combination offurnaces,a weighted door for each furnace, a rod attached to each doorand a weight adjustably secured on said rod, with a chute deliveringinto each furnace, a trough provided with openings located one aboveeach chute, and means for adjusting the size of the opening above eachchute, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES FISHER.

Witnesses:

Taos. B. WALKER, RoBT. A. YOUNG.

